UAH shooting survivor files civil lawsuit against Amy Bishop

View full sizeHuntsville Times file photoA lawsuit filed Friday by Dr. Debra Moriarity against Amy Bishop says Bishop repeatedly threatened, kicked or struck Moriarity, and aimed a pistol at Moriarity at point blank range and pulled the trigger several times only to have the gun jam.

HUNTSVILLE, AL. - UAH shooting survivor Dr. Debra Moriarity is suing Amy Bishop and Bishop's husband for an unspecified amount of money for physical and mental injuries Moriarity received in the campus shooting almost a year ago.

Moriarity, who is now interim chairwoman of the University of Alabama in Huntsville Biology Department, was attending the Biology Department's faculty meeting on Feb. 12 when authorities say Bishop, then an assistant biology professor, shot and killed three colleagues and wounded three others.

The lawsuit, filed in Madison County Circuit Court Friday by attorney Tommy Siniard, asks that the case be decided by a judge instead of a jury and that the judge determine an appropriate amount of award for punitive and compensatory damages.

Moriarity is "a remarkable human being in my eyes," Siniard said.

The suit says Bishop repeatedly threatened, kicked or struck Moriarity during the meeting, and aimed a pistol at Moriarity at point blank range and pulled the trigger several times only to have the gun jam.

"It's a matter of standing up to her attacker in her own way, someone who was once her friend, to say, 'Why in God's green earth did you do this," Siniard said of the lawsuit at a Friday afternoon noon conference at his office.

Bishop is charged with capital murder in the shootings. Families of the shooting victims and other survivors are also suing her.

Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, were named in lawsuits filed by survivors Stephanie Monticciolo, a department staff assistant, and professor Dr. Joseph Leahy, who were both wounded.

The families of two victims who were slain, Dr. Maria Ragland Davis and Dr. Adriel Johnson, filed a joint lawsuit against Bishop, Anderson and UAH Provost Vistasp Karbhari. The families claim that Karbhari did not follow policies regarding employees with emotional or psychological problems. UAH has denied any wrongdoing by Karbhari.

Dr. Gopi Podila, the biology department chair, was also killed in the shooting spree.

Moriarity's suit says Anderson negligently entrusted Bishop with the pistol used in the shooting with knowledge of her mental incompetency, dangerous temperament or other factors.

Siniard said he expects the court to put Moriarity's lawsuit on hold until the criminal case against Bishop is complete. Bishop cannot be forced to testify in the civil case with the criminal case pending because of her Fifth Amendment right not to give testimony that might incriminate her.

Once the criminal case is disposed, Bishop can be compelled to testify in the civil case, Siniard said, drawing parallels to the O.J. Simpson case.

Seeking a trial by judge could get the case resolved quicker than if it were a jury trial, Siniard said.

The amount of damages Moriarity is seeking was not specified. "We left that sum to be determined by a judge instead of putting some wild number in there," Siniard said.

Siniard said Bishop's and Anderson's only known assets now are their house and their interest in a biotech company named InQ Cell Research System. The suit could also lay claim to any money the couple receives in royalties or other payments from book or film deals.